Pada 7 Mei 2015, Pionir Books melayangkan, lewat Twitter, surat terbuka kepada Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, seorang pemikir ternama di bidang kreativitas, inovasi dan SDM pada sektor bisnis dan pendidikan. Dalam surat tersebut kami mengangkat kata 'adiwidia', yang oleh Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia diartikan sebagai 'pengetahuan yang paling tinggi'. Dalam surat tersebut kami mempertanyakan mengapa kata itu tidak kata yang lumrah dijumpai dalam khazanah dunia pendidikan Indonesia.
Pasal, kami di Pionir Books hakulyakin bahwa agar Indonesia dapat maju, sistem pendidikan negara ini bukan lagi harus turun mesin, tetapi ganti mesin. Agar negara ini dapat maju, sistem pendidikan Indonesia haruslah dirancang sedemikian rupa sehingga ia menghasilkan insan yang mampu bernalar dengan pikiran terbuka dan mampu mempertanyakan segalanya. Sistem pendidikan Indonesia haruslah menggalakkan kurikulum yang mengangkat dan meninggikan manusia, alih-alih mengangkat dan meninggikan sistem buatan manusia (sebagaimana berlaku dan berjalan saat ini). Insan-insan tersebutlah yang lantas di kemudian hari akan diberikan tugas untuk menciptakan sistem-sistem yang pada gilirannya juga mengangkat dan meninggikan manusia dan lingkungan hidup beserta isi-isinya.
Ini dia surat kami tersebut.
#adiwidia @SirKenRobinson @jokowi_do2 @aniesbaswedan
Sir Ken Robinson,
I am writing after having downloaded and viewed your TED talk on education (http://bit.ly/1090x6F). I agree with you and would like to take it a step further.
I think that for humanity to improve and the world to become a better place, educational reform is key. Under the framework of this reform schools have to produce one thing and one thing only: people capable of thinking and questioning everything.
How is that to be accomplished? I don't know. Perhaps the education system should be modeled as such that students (from junior high on) are free to pick out classes they would like to attend according to interest and aptitude.
But the outcome should always be: people capable of thinking and questioning everything.
Today's education system is rooted in the idea that we should indulge our propensities to either amass wealth, hold power, or gain knowledge as an end in themselves rather than as a means to an end.
This is where I encourage you to read my open letter to W. Axl Rose (http://bit.ly/1RaAnan) and to watch the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day (1993).
Yes. Really.
The reason education needs to produce people capable of thinking and questioning everything is because it must facilitate the process of people transforming themselves from the egoistic man into the altruistic man: everything else is but a means to this end. Systems of learning should become places of adiwidia, an Indonesian word borrowed from Sanskrit meaning 'the highest knowledge' or 'superior knowledge' (and a word I feel to be too obscure in the Indonesian vocabulary considering its meaning).
I live in Indonesia and I'm trying to run a very modest publishing project. Also, I'm disillusioned with the education system here.
Thank you for your time and take care.
Sincerely,
Laurens Sipahelut
Tampilkan postingan dengan label joko widodo. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label joko widodo. Tampilkan semua postingan
23 Mei 2015
22 Mei 2015
Surat Terbuka kepada W. Axl Rose
Pada awal Mei 2015 Pionir Books, lewat Twitter, menulis surat terbuka yang ditujukan kepada musisi legendaris W. Axl Rose asal Amerika Serikat sebagai tanggapan dan juga ucapan terima kasih atas surat terbuka dia kepada Presiden Joko Widodo yang isinya menentang eksekusi sejumlah terpidana mati narkotik. Dalam surat ini Pionir Books sekaligus menyiarkan filosofi yang melandasi sepak terjang Pionir Books, yang kami namai #FilosofiGroundhogDay. Akan tetapi, filosofi ini sesuatu yang bernapas dan bernyawa sehingga sewaktu-waktu dapat tumbuh berkembang menjadi sesuatu yang perlu kami namai dengan sebutan lain. Hal itu juga konsekuensi dari dan sejalan dengan dasar tuntunan hidup Pionir Books: buka pikiran, pertanyakan segalanya.
Berikut surat terbuka kami tersebut.
Open Letter to @axlrose
May 4, 2015
Mr W. Axl Rose,
I am writing in response to your open letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo regarding the then impending executions of Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, and Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso. The letter I am referring to is this one here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/guns-n-roses/axl-roses-letter-to-indonesian-president/10153791661983222
I am no one and because of that I don't have a personal Twitter account as I have nothing to say personally, but I do have a very, very modest publishing project under which I publish translations of Dutch fiction and non-fiction to Indonesian readers and for which I do have a Twitter account, which I am using now to send you this letter.
Evil and negativity seem to appear ever more prevalent, you say. I don't know, perhaps the world has always been like this. I mean, it has got to be.
The world we experience is a reflection of us mankind and a vast majority of people making up mankind -- to an extent that it is mankind -- is egoistic. So let's talk a little bit about the egoistic human being, the egoistic man.
The egoistic man concerns itself with desires, and these desires it fulfills by taking things -- i.e. as opposed to bestowing things.
At first the egoistic man is confronted with animalistic needs. Food, shelter, sex. It must have these. Once satisfied the egoistic man looks to amass wealth, i.e. to secure its animalistic needs and to therefore not having to worry about them anymore, but it then only finds itself wanting to exercise control over other people's wealth by way of... power.
The egoistic man doesn't stop there, however, as it has one final desire to fulfill: knowledge. Art, science, philosophy, religion... Existential questions suddenly abound and they demand answers, answers the power he has now in its hands cannot address: Why am I here? What's the purpose of life? Is there life after death?
In short, the egoistic man grows out from one desire into another:
1. Animalistic needs
2. Wealth
3. Power
4. Knowledge
Each desire assimilates the one going before it. This growth is the natural order of things and therefore perfectly normal. It’s not wrong nor is it evil. However, a vast majority of people making up mankind -- to an extent that it is mankind -- is unaware of this process, which happens to be the root cause of mankind's troubles. This... ignorance.
Let's imagine four receptacles, each one being larger than the one going before it and let's arrange them from small to large. The smallest one, Receptacle #1, contains 'Animalistic Needs'. The next one, Receptacle #2 contains 'Wealth', Receptacle #3 'Power', and Receptacle #4 'Knowledge'. Now let's imagine the content of each receptacle to be a force shaped not unlike a vortex rotating at great speeds. In we go inside Receptacle #1 where we at once are picked up by the force raging in it. Round and round we go until, completely at the mercy of the force's operations, we move away from its center and are slingshot to the next receptacle: Receptacle #2. We experience there the same treatment. Boom!: #3. Until we eventually stumble upon Receptacle #4.
We stumble from one receptacle to another, ignorantly. We're slingshot from one force into another and move about not unlike pebbles in a game of ducks and drakes, experiencing in the process tremendous pain and suffering, without knowing why we experience these and for what purpose they serve, believing each time that the prevailing force is all that is and will be.
Well, it's not. None of these forces are an end; they are but a means to an end. But we believe that they are ends. We believe that being an egoistic man is all there is to it, that its fate is to wallow in these forces, experiencing tremendous pain and suffering as it is being tossed about like a rag doll in the vortexes. Well, it's not.
The fate of the egoistic man is to evolve into the altruistic man, i.e. to transform from a being that takes into a being that bestows. Standing in between these two qualities is a veil, which must be pulled apart. The tremendous pain and suffering the egoistic man undergoes serve exactly to do that: to tear the veil. A vast majority is ignorant of this. I can only wonder what the world would be like if people were aware of this and, instead of being at the mercy of the forces, recognize them, embrace them and make a purposeful beeline for the veil.
I don't mean to come down on people's ignorance on this. The altruistic man is after all a hidden quality, an Easter egg almost, to use an Information Age parlance. And it is hidden behind this veil. Meanwhile, knowledge imparted through the education system and other institutions of learning has been rigged, so to speak, to ensure things stay this way. But I know that we deserve better.
The movie Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray does a better job at explaining all the above.
Axl, I'm writing because, as a Guns fan, I wish to thank you for your open letter. Someone once wrote that Guns' diehard fans were misfits who'd made their outcast status their stance. Even at my age today that axiom still rings true for me, but with the difference that now I want everyone to be outcasts. Your letter? Penned in true outcast form.
There's another nineties movie I want to bring your attention to: Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Specifically, I'd like to point your attention to a scene involving John Connor and the Terminator, who have just met and are trying to get acquainted with each other:
John Connor: You just can't go around killing people.
The Terminator: Why?
JC: Whadda you mean why? 'Cause you can't.
TT: Why?
JC: Because you just can't, okay. Trust me on this.
That snippet of dialog is telling the same message I'm trying to say, only more succinctly. Taking the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, or of anyone else's for that matter, is wrong. Period. Trust me on this.
Take care, Axl.
Sincerely,
Laurens Sipahelut
Berikut surat terbuka kami tersebut.
Open Letter to @axlrose
May 4, 2015
Mr W. Axl Rose,
I am writing in response to your open letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo regarding the then impending executions of Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, and Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso. The letter I am referring to is this one here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/guns-n-roses/axl-roses-letter-to-indonesian-president/10153791661983222
I am no one and because of that I don't have a personal Twitter account as I have nothing to say personally, but I do have a very, very modest publishing project under which I publish translations of Dutch fiction and non-fiction to Indonesian readers and for which I do have a Twitter account, which I am using now to send you this letter.
Evil and negativity seem to appear ever more prevalent, you say. I don't know, perhaps the world has always been like this. I mean, it has got to be.
The world we experience is a reflection of us mankind and a vast majority of people making up mankind -- to an extent that it is mankind -- is egoistic. So let's talk a little bit about the egoistic human being, the egoistic man.
The egoistic man concerns itself with desires, and these desires it fulfills by taking things -- i.e. as opposed to bestowing things.
At first the egoistic man is confronted with animalistic needs. Food, shelter, sex. It must have these. Once satisfied the egoistic man looks to amass wealth, i.e. to secure its animalistic needs and to therefore not having to worry about them anymore, but it then only finds itself wanting to exercise control over other people's wealth by way of... power.
The egoistic man doesn't stop there, however, as it has one final desire to fulfill: knowledge. Art, science, philosophy, religion... Existential questions suddenly abound and they demand answers, answers the power he has now in its hands cannot address: Why am I here? What's the purpose of life? Is there life after death?
In short, the egoistic man grows out from one desire into another:
1. Animalistic needs
2. Wealth
3. Power
4. Knowledge
Each desire assimilates the one going before it. This growth is the natural order of things and therefore perfectly normal. It’s not wrong nor is it evil. However, a vast majority of people making up mankind -- to an extent that it is mankind -- is unaware of this process, which happens to be the root cause of mankind's troubles. This... ignorance.
Let's imagine four receptacles, each one being larger than the one going before it and let's arrange them from small to large. The smallest one, Receptacle #1, contains 'Animalistic Needs'. The next one, Receptacle #2 contains 'Wealth', Receptacle #3 'Power', and Receptacle #4 'Knowledge'. Now let's imagine the content of each receptacle to be a force shaped not unlike a vortex rotating at great speeds. In we go inside Receptacle #1 where we at once are picked up by the force raging in it. Round and round we go until, completely at the mercy of the force's operations, we move away from its center and are slingshot to the next receptacle: Receptacle #2. We experience there the same treatment. Boom!: #3. Until we eventually stumble upon Receptacle #4.
We stumble from one receptacle to another, ignorantly. We're slingshot from one force into another and move about not unlike pebbles in a game of ducks and drakes, experiencing in the process tremendous pain and suffering, without knowing why we experience these and for what purpose they serve, believing each time that the prevailing force is all that is and will be.
Well, it's not. None of these forces are an end; they are but a means to an end. But we believe that they are ends. We believe that being an egoistic man is all there is to it, that its fate is to wallow in these forces, experiencing tremendous pain and suffering as it is being tossed about like a rag doll in the vortexes. Well, it's not.
The fate of the egoistic man is to evolve into the altruistic man, i.e. to transform from a being that takes into a being that bestows. Standing in between these two qualities is a veil, which must be pulled apart. The tremendous pain and suffering the egoistic man undergoes serve exactly to do that: to tear the veil. A vast majority is ignorant of this. I can only wonder what the world would be like if people were aware of this and, instead of being at the mercy of the forces, recognize them, embrace them and make a purposeful beeline for the veil.
I don't mean to come down on people's ignorance on this. The altruistic man is after all a hidden quality, an Easter egg almost, to use an Information Age parlance. And it is hidden behind this veil. Meanwhile, knowledge imparted through the education system and other institutions of learning has been rigged, so to speak, to ensure things stay this way. But I know that we deserve better.
The movie Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray does a better job at explaining all the above.
Axl, I'm writing because, as a Guns fan, I wish to thank you for your open letter. Someone once wrote that Guns' diehard fans were misfits who'd made their outcast status their stance. Even at my age today that axiom still rings true for me, but with the difference that now I want everyone to be outcasts. Your letter? Penned in true outcast form.
There's another nineties movie I want to bring your attention to: Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Specifically, I'd like to point your attention to a scene involving John Connor and the Terminator, who have just met and are trying to get acquainted with each other:
John Connor: You just can't go around killing people.
The Terminator: Why?
JC: Whadda you mean why? 'Cause you can't.
TT: Why?
JC: Because you just can't, okay. Trust me on this.
That snippet of dialog is telling the same message I'm trying to say, only more succinctly. Taking the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, or of anyone else's for that matter, is wrong. Period. Trust me on this.
Take care, Axl.
Sincerely,
Laurens Sipahelut
9 Oktober 2014
Siaran Pers: Perubahan Iklim Sejatinya Persoalan Energi
Ciputat, Tangerang Selatan – 30 September 2014 – Ketika fisikawan David MacKay dari University of Cambridge, Inggris, menulis bukunya yang bertajuk Sustainable Energy – without the hot air, sengaja dia tidak menyentuh wacana perubahan iklim. Baginya, energi lestari tok sebenarnya sudah cukup menarik untuk dibahas, dan selain itu ada baiknya untuk menghindari saja yang namanya polemik.
Dia menulis bukunya lantaran prihatin dengan banyak "Katanya..." yang beredar terkait energi lestari. Bagaimana tidak: ada saja yang mengimbau kita untuk setop menggunakan bahan bakar fosil, untuk "membuat suatu perubahan", tetapi banyak hal yang konon bisa membawa perubahan ternyata tak jelas juntrungannya. Lalu, beredarnya berbagai "Katanya…" saat ini tak lain dan tak bukan ialah karena orang berbicara dengan emosi (soal daya nuklir, misalnya), sementara yang berbicara angka tidak ada. Dan kalaupun ada yang menyebut angka, mereka memakainya untuk menciptakan kesan tertentu, atau untuk mengungguli debat alih-alih membangun diskusi yang berfaedah.
Dalam bukunya ini, MacKay tidak menjagokan rencana energi atau teknologi apa pun juga; yang dia lakukan hanyalah menghitung sumber energi lestari yang tersedia bagi kita, dan dalam jumlah berapa banyak. Prediksi MacKay: seandai hasil perhitungan menunjukkan bahwa angka produksi energi lestari ternyata berada jauh di bawah angka konsumsi energi kita, maka bersiap-siaplah karena sebuah perubahan besar tengah menanti.
Dalam membuat perhitungan-perhitungannya, MacKay mengukur konsumsi dan produksi energi dalam satuan kilowatt-jam (KWh): satu kilowatt-jam (kWh) setara dengan energi yang dipakai oleh satu bohlam 40 W yang dibiarkan menyala terus-menerus selama 24 jam. Orang Eropa mengonsumsi 125 kWh per hari per orang, atau setara dengan 125 bohlam yang dibiarkan menyala terus-menerus sepanjang hari. Orang Amerika memakai 250 kWh per hari: 250 bohlam. Konsumsi energi rata-rata di dunia adalah 56 kWh per hari per orang: 56 bohlam. MacKay sengaja melakukan penyederhanaan ini karena angka-angka simpel lebih mudah dipahami, dibandingkan, dan diingat.
Tujuan MacKay melakukan perhitungan-perhitungan ini ialah untuk mencari tahu apakah kita bisa melepaskan diri dari bahan bakar fosil (BBF) karena: (i) pembakaran BBF menyebabkan konsentrasi CO2 naik, (ii) CO2 merupakan salah satu gas rumah kaca, dan (iii) peningkatan efek rumah kaca meningkatkan suhu rata-rata dunia. Persoalah perubahan iklim sejatinya persoalan energi.
Kesimpulan yang ditarik oleh MacKay berdasarkan hasil perhitungannya ialah: (i) supaya bisa membuat perbedaan nyata, sebuah fasilitas energi terbaruan haruslah dibangun sangat luas dan (ii) bukan urusan mudah menyusun sebuah rencana energi yang masuk akal yang berlandaskan teknologi terbaruan; namun, ia juga bukan suatu kemustahilan. Yang penting, kita harus mulai membangun sekarang juga.
Menghitung untuk Indonesia
MacKay memakai Inggris Raya sebagai contoh kasus karena Inggris Raya bisa mewakili negara-negara Eropa secara baik, sehingga ia menjadi contoh yang baik untuk menjawab pertanyaan "Bagaimana caranya agar sebuah negara yang bertaraf hidup tinggi bisa mendulang kebutuhan energinya secara lestari?" Dengan demikian, yang dibahas ialah sumber-daya terbaruan yang ada di Inggris. Walaupun begitu, pendekatan yang sama bisa kita terapkan pada Indonesia, tetapi tentu dengan menggunakan data yang berlaku untuk Indonesia.
Perubahan iklim merupakan persoalan global yang memerlukan upaya serius dan lestari untuk menghadapinya. Capaian yang telah dibuat oleh pemerintahan Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono perlu dilanjutkan oleh pemerintahan pimpinan Joko Widodo. Pendekatan MacKay terhadap persoalan ini bisa dijadikan rujukan dalam menentukan kebijakan negara pada sektor hutan, lingkungan hidup, dan energi.
Buku MacKay, Sustainable Energy – without the hot air (dalam bahasa Inggris), bisa diunduh secara gratis di www.withouthotair.com. Saduran dalam bahasa Indonesia dengan judul Mari Bicara Angka, Bukan "Katanya..." terbitan Pionir Books bisa diunduh (juga secara gratis) di http://bit.ly/1AK40pH.
Dia menulis bukunya lantaran prihatin dengan banyak "Katanya..." yang beredar terkait energi lestari. Bagaimana tidak: ada saja yang mengimbau kita untuk setop menggunakan bahan bakar fosil, untuk "membuat suatu perubahan", tetapi banyak hal yang konon bisa membawa perubahan ternyata tak jelas juntrungannya. Lalu, beredarnya berbagai "Katanya…" saat ini tak lain dan tak bukan ialah karena orang berbicara dengan emosi (soal daya nuklir, misalnya), sementara yang berbicara angka tidak ada. Dan kalaupun ada yang menyebut angka, mereka memakainya untuk menciptakan kesan tertentu, atau untuk mengungguli debat alih-alih membangun diskusi yang berfaedah.
Dalam bukunya ini, MacKay tidak menjagokan rencana energi atau teknologi apa pun juga; yang dia lakukan hanyalah menghitung sumber energi lestari yang tersedia bagi kita, dan dalam jumlah berapa banyak. Prediksi MacKay: seandai hasil perhitungan menunjukkan bahwa angka produksi energi lestari ternyata berada jauh di bawah angka konsumsi energi kita, maka bersiap-siaplah karena sebuah perubahan besar tengah menanti.
Dalam membuat perhitungan-perhitungannya, MacKay mengukur konsumsi dan produksi energi dalam satuan kilowatt-jam (KWh): satu kilowatt-jam (kWh) setara dengan energi yang dipakai oleh satu bohlam 40 W yang dibiarkan menyala terus-menerus selama 24 jam. Orang Eropa mengonsumsi 125 kWh per hari per orang, atau setara dengan 125 bohlam yang dibiarkan menyala terus-menerus sepanjang hari. Orang Amerika memakai 250 kWh per hari: 250 bohlam. Konsumsi energi rata-rata di dunia adalah 56 kWh per hari per orang: 56 bohlam. MacKay sengaja melakukan penyederhanaan ini karena angka-angka simpel lebih mudah dipahami, dibandingkan, dan diingat.
Tujuan MacKay melakukan perhitungan-perhitungan ini ialah untuk mencari tahu apakah kita bisa melepaskan diri dari bahan bakar fosil (BBF) karena: (i) pembakaran BBF menyebabkan konsentrasi CO2 naik, (ii) CO2 merupakan salah satu gas rumah kaca, dan (iii) peningkatan efek rumah kaca meningkatkan suhu rata-rata dunia. Persoalah perubahan iklim sejatinya persoalan energi.
Kesimpulan yang ditarik oleh MacKay berdasarkan hasil perhitungannya ialah: (i) supaya bisa membuat perbedaan nyata, sebuah fasilitas energi terbaruan haruslah dibangun sangat luas dan (ii) bukan urusan mudah menyusun sebuah rencana energi yang masuk akal yang berlandaskan teknologi terbaruan; namun, ia juga bukan suatu kemustahilan. Yang penting, kita harus mulai membangun sekarang juga.
Menghitung untuk Indonesia
MacKay memakai Inggris Raya sebagai contoh kasus karena Inggris Raya bisa mewakili negara-negara Eropa secara baik, sehingga ia menjadi contoh yang baik untuk menjawab pertanyaan "Bagaimana caranya agar sebuah negara yang bertaraf hidup tinggi bisa mendulang kebutuhan energinya secara lestari?" Dengan demikian, yang dibahas ialah sumber-daya terbaruan yang ada di Inggris. Walaupun begitu, pendekatan yang sama bisa kita terapkan pada Indonesia, tetapi tentu dengan menggunakan data yang berlaku untuk Indonesia.
Perubahan iklim merupakan persoalan global yang memerlukan upaya serius dan lestari untuk menghadapinya. Capaian yang telah dibuat oleh pemerintahan Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono perlu dilanjutkan oleh pemerintahan pimpinan Joko Widodo. Pendekatan MacKay terhadap persoalan ini bisa dijadikan rujukan dalam menentukan kebijakan negara pada sektor hutan, lingkungan hidup, dan energi.
Buku MacKay, Sustainable Energy – without the hot air (dalam bahasa Inggris), bisa diunduh secara gratis di www.withouthotair.com. Saduran dalam bahasa Indonesia dengan judul Mari Bicara Angka, Bukan "Katanya..." terbitan Pionir Books bisa diunduh (juga secara gratis) di http://bit.ly/1AK40pH.
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